Times of Trenton Letter to the Editor - Dec. 8

Love can’t stop time’s swift advance

With the holidays upon us, I think about the past and the people who are no longer with us. I recently sat at my table and looked at all the empty chairs. I recalled the laughter, the smiles, the hugs and kisses and the sound of chatter about things that really don’t matter. I can see in my mind’s eye dear ones passing dishes, where now there are empty chairs. The love for one another, just being together — I loved it all.

There are so many empty chairs now. I can’t help but wonder, now that I am getting on in years, whether, next year, there will be another — mine.

Enjoy what time you have with family, because time heals all, and memories last forever.
Merry Christmas.

-- Nancy Mooney,
Ewing

Christie chooses his dream over that of undocumented students

Gov. Chris Christie is showing his true colors with his obvious flip-flopping on the Dream Act (”Hispanics hit Christie on in-state tuition bill — Some question sincerity, see post-election reversal as politics-minded flop,” Nov. 30). When needing the Latino vote to win re-election in Democrat-leaning New Jersey, Christie was in full support of tuition equality and providing DREAMers — young adults who were brought to the United States without documentation as children — with the ability to go to state colleges and universities at the same cost as citizen residents.

Now that he has moved onto the national stage and his presidential aspirations have taken hold, Mr. Christie is unwilling to sign the DREAM Act (Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors) legislation, claiming the Legislature pulled a bait-and-switch, which is simply incorrect. In fact, similar legislation has been around for nearly a decade prior to the comments Gov. Christie made on the gubernatorial stump.

By all appearances, it seems Mr. Christie has ditched progressive New Jersey voters to play to a more conservative base, whose votes he will ask for in the Republican presidential primaries. I now fear that we have lost the moderate Republican who worked with Democratic leadership in the Legislature, such as Senate President Steve Sweeney, to effectively get things done for New Jersey — from pension reform to capping property-tax increases to higher education restructuring. While Sen. Sweeney continues to stand firm on his beliefs and fights for New Jersey, Gov. Christie has checked out and is dreaming of cornfields in Iowa.

-- Stephen Clyde,
Berlin

Where there’s wood smoke, there’s a health risk

As the weather chills, one notices that many people are burning wood for heat.

Wood smoke is more carcinogenic than tobacco smoke. It contains a broad array of toxic nanoparticles that go directly from the lungs to the bloodstream and cause significant cardiovascular damage, including stroke.

Wood smoke not only is a problem outdoors; more than half of the nanoparticulates get through tiny spaces along doors or windows and into homes. If a factory with such toxic emissions were placed in a neighborhood, newspapers would do stories about it and activists would call for the factory to shut down.

Perhaps its users think burning wood is environmentally friendly because wood comes from trees or because Boy Scouts do it. Or maybe they are trying to save a few bucks or are trying to bring a rustic esthetic to a densely populated area. However, environmentally aware municipalities have passed laws against this atavistic, stone-age energy source. New Jersey towns should do the same.

Ask Springsteen to do AC

I think it’s great that Long Island native Billy Joel, an artist who has traditionally been in high demand in the New York area, has signed a Las Vegas-style music franchise agreement with the 18,000-seat Madison Square Garden to play monthly concerts there as he sails off into the twilight of his super brilliant career (“Piano man’s new place — Billy Joel announced as Madison Square Garden’s ‘fourth franchise,’” Dec. 3, nj.com).

With Atlantic City in dire straits due to burgeoning gaming competition, I’ve often wondered why any casino company couldn’t sign Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band to a similar long-term contract to play at the 14,000-seat Boardwalk Hall.
Imagine that, instead of touring, Springsteen were to anchor himself in the gaming capital of the East Coast and attract his worldwide following to the legendary Jersey Shore, how that would revive the city and its image.

New Jersey’s governor is an alpha Springsteen fan of the purest pedigree. Surely, this is an idea that has crossed his mind. Couldn’t Atlantic City use a fresh crowd of 14,000 cash-spending tourists every month? Isn’t economic development high on Gov. Chris Christie’s priority agenda?

As George Bernard Shaw once said, “Some men see things as they are and ask why. I dream things that never were and say why not.” Thanks to Billy Joel paving the way in New York, I say that Bruce Springsteen in Atlantic City is an idea whose time has finally come.

-- Eugene R. Dunn,
Medford

Let students graduate knowing how to save a life

I have so much to be thankful for. I’m thankful for my family, my friends and most important, the fact that I’m alive today to enjoy them. In 2008, at the age of 49, I collapsed on the side of the road, suffering from sudden cardiac arrest. A high school sophomore saved my life by acting fast and starting cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), which he had learned in school just weeks before.

So, this year, I’m especially thankful to Sen. Diane Allen (R-Burlington), Sen. Joseph Vitale (D-Woodbridge) and Assemblyman Angel Fuentes (D-Audubon) for sponsoring a law supported by the American Heart Association that would call for all students who attend public school to learn CPR and the use of an automatic external defibrillator (AED) as a high school graduation requirement.

More than 300,000 people suffer from cardiac arrest outside of the hospital each year. Effective bystander CPR provided immediately after sudden cardiac arrest can double or triple a victim’s chance of survival, but only 32 percent of cardiac arrest victims get CPR from a bystander.

By understanding the mechanics of CPR and how to push down on a chest during a crisis situation as well as how to handle an AED, we are preparing future generations to handle the unthinkable. I hope that all our legislators see the value and pass this bill into law.

This is truly a lesson that can one day save a life — a life like mine.

-- Laurie Heavener,
Stanhope
The writer is an American Heart Association volunteer.